Disney Feature Animation Internship: Chip in China

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A Russian animator visited the studio and screened his film for us. The interns also had an opportunity to sketch lions and bears on a sound stage. There were once in a lifetime opportunities.

I managed to get my centaur to walk but getting him to transition into  run was proving a major challenge.

I developed a cold which had my nose completely stuffed and I had to leave the studio to go back to the apartment and nurse myself back to health. That weekend all the interns were invited to go the the home of the training manager, Frank Gladstone. Frank was pivotal in keeping my head screwed on straight since I was feeling home sick for NYC. My wife was going to visit the studio the week of Halloween so that was something to look forward to.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Dancing Bushes

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These dancing Hippo and Crocodile bushes were located right outside the animation tour building. They were in the MGM studio theme park for guests to enjoy, not necessarily the animators.

My evening of partying caught up with me and I had a horrible hangover. I had to leave work early.

I did get some work done on my quadruped assignment. I designed a centaur. The plan was to make the centaur walk onto the scene where he notices a female centaur and starts running after her. It was a great plan but a bit too much for my hungover brain to handle.

I was told that 23 positions were opening up in the animation studio in the next 18 months. There was hope to join the growing studio.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Muppets on Location

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The interns went to Pleasure Island to blow off some steam. My favorite venue there was the adventurer’s club, but there were a wide variety of dance clubs and comedy clubs. Unfortunately Disney shut down this more adult themes attraction.

I had a good conversation with Pete about the future possibilities of working in Animation. We both agreed that it is important to invest in your own ideas besides working on company projects.

Disney felt homogenized. It offered security, but a life of adventure would require more risks. I had 6 beers and felt I needed to figure out the trajectory of my life. The key is to take it one day at a time and keep moving in a direction. Just as I was searching for my next step then, I am searching for my next step now. I have several spreads in my book I need to lay out today. That is all I can think about for now.

COVID Dystopia: At Iowa Independent Film Festival

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COVID Dystopia will be screening at the Iowa Independent Film Festival on September 6, 2024. The festival has been in existence for 17 years.

The primary reason I submitted to this festival was that one of the board members is names Chris P. Chicken.

Today I have to firm up travel plans. I already spent a night looking a lodging and found a great place. I just need to book the flight and lodging. I always travel to Film Festivals that showcase COVID Dystopia. It is a great excuse to travel places I never would have gone and meet other film makers.

The other films in the time slot my film is being shown in are: Masterpiece (3 minutes) and  Masterpiece is actually shorter than my film which runs 4 minutes and 17 seconds) Knee High (1 hour 53 minutes) fills out the remainder of the film block.

Should you find yourself in Clear Lake Iowa on September 6, stop on by and say hello. There is a director’s question and answer session after the screening so it is a rare chance to hear why I felt this film needed to be made.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: MGM Studios Entrance

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This is another lunchtime sketch inside Disney’s MGM Studios. On the weekend I took some time off and wandered through Epcot people watching and sketching. Such excursions helped keep me sane through the pressure cooker that was the internship.

I managed to get a sun burn on my forehead since I forgot to wear my baseball cap while sketching.

I tried to arrange a haircut with a Disney barber but was told I would need to return in a week because I didn’t have a reservation. Just figuring out basic survival needs is a learning process.

The next assignment was going to be figuring out how a horse walks. It was hard enough figuring out how two legs worked in a walk and now I had to face 4 legs. Well, if the horses can figure out the mechanics of walking, then so can I.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Halloween Plans

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This is a sketch of the waiting area outside Honey I Blew up the Kids. the attraction at Disney’s MGM Studios was a kids play area with the playground being made up of giant objects, like huge blades of grass, giant ants and a very large dogs nose.

Plans were under way for the Halloween festivities. Disney animators took Halloween very seriously. There was to be a costume parade and then a children’s costume parade. Well lets face it, animators are children. Then there were games and BBQ on the animation patio which was built on to the parking lot trailer.

I worked much of the day since it was raining outside. I was working on a “Singing in the Rain” walk sequence. It was broken but I spent the day re-timing some sections of the animation to get it to flow better. Working such long hours was starting to wear on me. I needed time away from the studio, but that would have to wait for another day.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Popcorn Line

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I went to see the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas directed by Tim Burton. Part of the reason I went is because there was one of the fanciful sets and some of the character puppets on display at Disney’s MGM Studios where I worked. The set was larger than I would have imagined and quite impressive.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but what truly blew me out of my seat was the trailer for The Lion King which was in production in the studio I was working in. The trailer was simply the opening sequence of the movie and it was absolutely thrilling. Who knew that hand drawn images could pack such an emotional punch. I was hooked. I knew that I needed to be part of what this small army of artists was producing.

I am moved to tears any time I see the Lion King opening. The sequence is such an amazing celebration of life. Part of that emotional response must be because I always wonder if I ever will truly find my place in this miracle of life.

 

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Mickey’s Starland

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For the next animation assignment I was researching bubbles, brooms and bathwater from The Sword and the Stone. Effects animation seemed incredibly challenging but I slogged my way through the animation.

Years later I would be applying some of the principles learned in my own animation.

There was some love life drama among the interns but I was above the fray since I was a newlywed. I was married in the month of October before being called down to Orlando Florida. Instead of building a new life in New York City I was of on my own finding out what life might be like in Orlando. After the internship I was the only  intern to leave since I had to wrap up things inn NYC. I had a book that was being published and had to figure out what to do with the apartment. It is a shame the apartment could not be sublet since it would have been nice to return to NYC after a decade of helping make animated films for Disney. Now it would be an impossible dream to live in the NYC neighborhood we once lived in.

Disney Feature animation Internship: Thunder Mountain

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At the animation studio I had finished working on Mr. Zed. Mr. Zed was the affectionate name we used to refer to a simple animated character that just had a ball for a head, a bean for a body and spindly long legs simply defined with two lines.

The next assignment was to work on effects animation. Effects are much more fluid, abstract and unpredictable.

I spent time in the animation library and studied Fantasia to figure out how a cloak might move on a figure. I was fascinated by effect but it was not easy. All the other interns were busy doing and redoing their walks. I decided that when I was done with an assignment I would put it aside and move on. It was the best way to stay sane. If I chased absolute perfection I could drive myself crazy. I do believe that the internship experience was set up to see who cracked and who stayed o course. My mind was set on the long game.

The sketch was from a weekend exploring the parks. This was in Magic Kingdom.

Disney Animation Internship: Ice Cream Gertie

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Meg Ryan and Demi Moore visited the Disney Feature Animation studio on October 11, 1993. I was not sure if they were looking for voice acting parts or were just on vacation. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors.

In 1996 Demi Moore provided the speaking voice of Esmeralda in Disney’s animated feature film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Maybe Meg and Demi were auditioning for the same part.

I finished the 3 walks and runs I was working on. That put me three days ahead of schedule. I decided to go back into the scenes and add facial expressions and other details. So much of what I was doing was about mechanisms and I wanted to get some emotion into the scenes. After work I went to Epcot to watch the fireworks. The shuttle that I took to the studio each day also stopped at Epcot, making it a convenient stop.

Gertie was in Disney’s MGM Studios. On the opposite side there was a standard Ice Cream shop cut into her belly. I doubt I ever tried the ice cream, it was cheaper at the employee commissary. I was more interested in seeing Gertie from the lagoon side.